When should I use Manual Mode? Always!

O.K., almost always! Whether you are shooting in full manual mode or a programmed mode, there are three interdependent variables in digital photography.

Shutter Speed

Aperture

Film Speed

Throughout the pages of this site I talk about how these three interrelate. For now just remember each will affect the other two. When you understand and find the correct balance your snapshots will transform into photographs.

This is about the most important page you will read on my site...

because those three interdependent variables determine the outcome of your photographs. You have to control all three in order to be sure they are all correct. Manual mode is the only place you control all three.

Shooting in a program mode the camera makes the decisions and the camera does not have cognitive abilities. What that means is the camera only guesses according to what it is programmed to do.

I carry my camera in aperture priority mode.

I prefer manual mode but in aperture priority the camera is always set for a split second shot. I get a lot of beautiful pictures that way.

When I stop to actively take pictures I switch to manual mode. Take a look at this picture.

What a waste of a beautiful opportunity to shoot a Great Blue Heron at take off. This Great Blue Heron was in the shade, against dark rocks. I shot the flight in Aperture priority. I used all the right settings, BUT, the little guy is all washed out!! Why?

See the X on the rock? That is where she landed. Less than one minute later I shot this picture.

I changed nothing except I zoomed in on the bird. So - - - what is the difference? When she filled the viewfinder the camera was able to more correctly identify the necessary settings.

The settings are still wrong because the Heron is much lighter in color than the rocks behind her. So the camera split the difference. A little post edit work and, unlike the un-salvageable first shot, my Great Blue Heron looks pretty good.

In program mode the camera... balances out the lighting throughout the viewfinder. In program mode the camera does the best it can but it is not like our eyes and it does not have a brain like ours.

When we see a scene such as this our brain simultaneously processes both the Heron and the rocks in a properly exposed way. That is pretty amazing when you think about it.

The camera does not have that ability. The camera can process the Heron, the rocks or some happy medium. Not the entire scene.

The camera doesn’t know the Heron is our subject. In the first picture the Heron takes up only a small portion of the screen. The camera thinks the majority of the screen is our subject. So, the camera does not know to properly expose the Heron unless we tell it to.

There is an adjustment that is supposed to take care of this problem. It is the light metering adjustment. There is “Matrix”, “Center Weighted” and “Spot” metering settings.

Matrix metering utilizes the entire viewfinder. As for the other two settings, you have to keep your subject directly in the center of the screen for them to work. Otherwise it can make things even worse.

Photographing a still subject is O.K. using this method. Only O.K. In my opinion it still lacks due to inconsistency of exposure. Needless to say perfectly centering any moving subject ain’t happenin’! So these settings become useless.

Black subjects and white subjects are the worst! Especially when your subject is opposite of your background. Dark on light or light on dark. Look!

People hate crows.

But they can look good.

And this little Snowy Egret. At least the rocks are nicely exposed, don’t cha think?

This is what a Snowy Egret actually looks like. Pretty, ain’t she!?

Oh, wait, that’s a plastic Great Egret for your yard. Hold on. I’ll find it. Here it is. Ain’t she pretty!?

And this little guy is just plain cute.

No reason for the duck. Just cause it’s my site and I wanted to put him in here.

The answer to the aforementioned... problem is a departure from the program modes in the camera.

♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♫

♫ ♪Here I come♫ ♫ to save♪ ♫ the day!♫ ♫

The answer is to shoot in full manual mode. People shy away from manual mode like it’s the plague. I can’t blame you. It seems so elusive. Practice is the key. Go here for some recommendations on practicing using manual mode.

"But," you say, "only professional photographers would ever consider delving into manual mode!? There is so much to learn! Well; I NEVER! Just think of the germs!!!"

O.K., if that’s your approach, so be it. But! Know this.

There is a way to use manual mode that is not so ever elusive as you think. That way is by using the camera as a light meter and using the resultant settings to shoot in manual mode. The camera does the work and you get the praise!

Don’t make fun of my English or I’ll have to send the thought police to your house! This ain’t English class. It’s how to git pixchers an’ git ones what’s good!

From reading other pages on my site you already have a good start. And you have some of the basics committed to memory. By now I imagine you are pretty comfortable with the settings we have spoken about on your camera.

If not, go to best camera settings.

If you haven’t read that and you like a real challenge, continue on this page. Otherwise, start there. Familiarize yourself with your camera and the settings we discuss. Then return and continue learning the easy way to use manual mode.

When a camera program decides what settings to use, it does so generically. One thing the camera can never know for sure is what you have chosen as your subject. Therefore the camera has to “guess” so to speak.

If your subject does not fill or nearly fill the frame, the camera does not know it is your subject. Hence the above pictures. How dare the camera not know that my subject was that little, tiny thing on the right in my viewfinder.

When in any of the program modes the camera exposes according to the built in program. What you have to do is set the camera to expose according to your chosen subject.

Here's how.

Step one; Find the right settings. In aperture priority set the camera to Spot Metering. You will have to consult your users’ manual or figure out how. Now zoom in on your subject. Have your <;a href="http://www.best-camera-or-best-pictures.com/digital-film-speed.html" >film speed preset.

As you are focused on your subject notice what the camera shows for correct shutter speed at your chosen aperture. Now switch to manual mode and set the shutter speed to that setting. Verify the aperture is still the same as when in aperture priority mode.

In essence what you are doing is using the camera as a light meter. Just like a professional photographer you are checking the light absorption of your subject. And just like a light meter, your camera can be set for matrix (the whole viewfinder area) center weighted (approximately the center third) or spot (the very center) metering.

For the purposes of this page the only settings you will ever use is center or spot depending upon the size of your subject when you are zoomed in as closely as you can. Also, don’t change film speed as that will affect your other settings.

Take a test shot. Go into playback mode. Zoom in so your subject fills the display screen. Make sure it looks right. If it is too dark or too light adjust the shutter speed accordingly. A higher shutter speed will darken the picture a little. A lower shutter speed will brighten the picture a little.

Knowing what you are looking at on the display screen will take a little experience. It will look drastically underexposed in bright sunlight. You will feel like you have to change the settings.

I always try to view in the shade or indoors in order to check the exposure. There are anti glare screen covers that help with this problem.

At first it will be hard to gauge exposure on your little screen. But if you protect the screen from direct sunlight and zoom in until your subject fills the screen completely you will get a good idea of whether it exposed correctly. After you do this a few times it will be fairly easy to determine whether you have the right settings.

Once set, as you shoot, you can zoom... in and out on your subject as you please. Every shot will have the same exposure regardless of background changes or how big your subject is compared to the scene.

In any program mode the exposure, therefore the brightness of each shot will vary according to how the camera senses the particular shot. You will think you are shooting the same thing 5 times in a row.

The camera sees it differently. With the slightest movement the camera will literally see it 5 different ways and may expose it 5 different ways. This does not happen in manual mode.

The only limit in manual mode... is where your subject is when you meter on it. If it is in the shade, these settings will only be good in the shade. Once your subject hits direct sunlight the needs change drastically. The same is true when you meter in the sunlight.

This time, with a super bright background, the Heron is correctly exposed. The background leaves a little to be desired but at least my Heron is good. She can be lifted in post edit while the boat is darkened. Or if that proves unsatisfactory she can be transplanted into a background where she looks great.

In a medium background the Heron is still correct.

As is she in a background that has some dark as well as some very bright spots. Notice the foreground is very dark, midway is medium dark and the center, background is extremely bright.

Is this challenging? Not with the system I use. I expose for the Heron and everything else is incidental. It always works!

And remember the Heron against the dark rocks? Well here she is in another flight that I didn’t waste.

Quite a difference, huh!? I have so many more. Here are two more examples.

This little walkway was easy. All I had to do was set the exposure for one of the walls. Then the bright sunlight throughout the picture had no affect on the outcome.

While in aperture priority, I simply pointed toward a wall making sure only the wall was in my viewfinder. I noticed the settings, then switched to manual mode and set the shutter speed. Then I shot the picture.

In the next picture, however, the background is so extremely bright that the kayaks actually took on somewhat of a glow. While it is normally less than desirable, I think it adds a certain artistic quality to this particular photo.

You’ll notice that the background is so bright that everything in it is completely washed out. There are boats, piers and a building behind the kayaks. It turned out this way because it was a bright, sunny day and the kayaks were in the shade.

Had I used a program mode the kayaks would be ugly and underexposed while the background would be ugly and overexposed. I like it better this way. Whadaya think?

This next picture... was somewhat of a challenge. The challenge was in having two subjects. The foreground, including the truck, and the background. The truck is dark, the background bright. The trick is to shoot a bright fire truck while not washing out the ocean and island completely.

In any program mode you do not know... what the camera will do until you playback the picture. You do know that you can expect it to attempt to balance out the exposure. This, as we already discussed, will cause the truck to be dark and the background to be light. Neither satisfactory.

In manual mode YOU make the decisions.

Then you'll get the result you're after. Not what the camera chooses. On one hand I could have the background washed out to the point of being solid white. In that case the fire engine is at its optimum. (Above)

On the other hand I could slightly underexpose the engine and the fireman so the ocean and island would show. I prefer the underexposed shot and I corrected the truck and fireman as much as possible in post edit. (Below)

There is one more way to shoot this picture. It requires a tripod and two shots, each with a different exposure. Still using manual mode, one exposure would have the truck and fireman exposed correctly. The other would have the ocean, sky and island exposed correctly.

Then in post edit you would combine the two in order to create one photo with both the foreground and the background properly exposed. More work and a little more complex, but not out of reach. And well worth the effort when you consider photos that will last your lifetime and you will be proud to display.

One final easy shot

Whoops, remember, as long as only one subject is to be properly exposed, there is no such thing as a hard shot when you know how to use manual mode. Your subject will come out beautifully every time! Provided you did your setup right. In this case I say it was easy because I could have gotten away with just using aperture priority.

Why? Because my subject and the background are approximately the same brightness. A program mode would have exposed closely enough whereby it would be easily fixed in Photoshop. If you are asking why use Photoshop anyway, go here for the explanation.

I carry my camera in aperture priority mode... (my default mode) so I am always ready for split second shots. Never the less, when I am shooting wildlife, especially birds, I always use manual mode.

The exception is when one comes up on me so fast I don’t have time to check my lighting and switch from aperture priority to manual. It generally takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to check the lighting and make the switch.

The first few times you set up manual mode... this way it will take, what seems like, for ever. After you do it for a while it becomes second nature. Once again, practice when the outcome doesn’t matter so when it counts you can be ready at a moment’s notice.

Birds have a tendency to fly, don’t cha know!? That being the case they will have a light background one instant and an extremely dark background the next. Kinda like football players in high school or your 4 year old at the park.

Shooting these instances in aperture priority mode… well you saw the result near the top of this page.

My manual mode system works miracles... when there are extreme lighting differences between your subject and the background. And any time you are active and/or things are changing, so does the lighting. That is why I use this system so much.

In any program mode your results will vary and you have no way of predetermining what those results will be. In manual mode you make the choices and you know what to expect. Then it is merely a matter of verification.

Once again I find even with center or spot metering it is impossible to follow a moving target closely enough to consistently expose it correctly.

That makes more work for me in Photoshop. There are many more wasted shots. By that I mean shots that even Photoshop cannot correct.

Whenever you use program modes to shoot people, expect a good number of those people to turn out very dark. The only way to be sure is practice manual mode.

Class, are there any questions? Oh wait, you have no way to contact me right now. Oh, well, the time will come when you can contact me and have input. Then again I may decide not. Just kidding.

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